Yale just released its Common App supplement for the 2012-2013 application season -- finally! We wanted to highlight that it changed a couple of its short-take responses from last year.

Last year the options were as follows:
A) What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?
B) Recall a compliment you received that you especially value. What was it? From whom did it come?
C) If you could witness one moment in history, what would it be and why?
D) What do you wish you were better at being or doing?
E) If you were choosing students to form a Yale class, what question would you ask here that we have not?

This year options B and E were changed to the following:
A) What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?B) What is the best piece of advice you have received in the last three years?
C) If you could witness one moment in history, what would it be and why?
D) What do you wish you were better at being or doing?E) What is something about which you have changed your mind in the last three years?

Please keep in mind that prior to this morning we had the following text listed under Yale on College Essay Organizer:

Questions #2, #3, and #5 will be re-confirmed when they are officially released for the 2012/2013 season.

This is our way of telling members that we will double-check the questions once the official supplement goes live; some colleges pre-release their essay questions over the summer though we know from experience that sometimes there are subtle or even significant changes when the actual apps go live. Know that College Essay Organizer is constantly checking and re-checking colleges' applications for you to ensure that everything is completely accurate.

Join the hundreds of educational consultants who are saving hours of time, working smarter, and growing their businesses with our easy-to-use web tool. If you are ready to bring your college essay practice into the 21st century or want to experience the newest upgrades based on consultant feedback, we welcome you to attend ourfinal summer webinar.

This one-hour webinar will be held on Thursday, August 30, at 1 pm EST.

We will host other webinars during the fall to ensure members are making the most of College Essay Organizer and to address individual questions. But if you're trying to determine if our website is right for you, be sure to attend this week's webinar --incorporating College Essay Organizer into your practice now will make this back-to-school your smoothest and most successful one yet.

Princeton University was among dozens of schools updated today. While the majority of schools release their Common App supplements when the Common App goes live on August 1, there are other schools that continue to hold out. While this remains a mystery to all of us, a copy of the supplement or preview of the essay questions often (but not always) appears on the school's website for students to begin working on their questions.

While Princeton's supplement is still not live, the school posted a pdf of it here. Other schools like George Washington University have left us completely in the dark as to what this year's questions will look like. Though we're pretty sure that it won't be long before all of the schools have released their 2012-2013 essay questions.

High school seniors share many misconceptions about the college admissions process. It’s easy to do when there are so many layers to an application. With standardized test scores, essay topics, GPA, and extracurriculars, it’s hard to know what is more important. The truth is, it all matters. Tufts students created this youtube video to help put to rest rumors and clear up misunderstandings about how exactly students are selected for admissions. The video sheds light on admissions counselors’ intent to “build the best possible case to admit” as opposed to the more commonly held theory that they look to reject, as well as how different aspects of an application are weighed in a discussion panel.

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was among dozens of schools updated today as Common App supplements continue to be released by schools. UNC-Chapel Hill which has 1 required supplemental essay and 5 special applicant and program-specific questions, had new options for its required question this year. While we liked all of the options, we'd have to go with the first topic:

"You just put a message in a bottle and threw the bottle out to sea. What is the message?"

The third option was tempting as well: "What is your comfort food and why?"

Members who have selected Occidental College may notice that we recently changed the ordering of this school's questions in our database. The "Special Applicant" question is now listed last (as opposed to first), which means the other questions are all now renumbered. Please review your account as needed.